A $190 million renovation at Pace University’s campus shows how the city has changed.

“When 1 Pace Plaza was built in the 1960s, it was a turbulent time, and the architecture was designed to screen out the city and make it a haven inside a shell,” said Stephen Friedman, Pace’s president, to Crain’s New York Business. “What has happened since then is lower Manhattan has become this incredible area.”

The planned renovation will open up Pace’s Modernist fortress of a main campus building, just across the street from New York City Hall in Downtown Manhattan. The designed building will welcome visitors into a new Barnes & Noble store on its first floor, among other changes.